home that is more likely to be used on the gun own or someone they love. we are seized by the myth that we need guns to save us from criminals and that guns make us safer but the data shows guns make us less safe. we must as a nation ask ourselves questions that are based in reality and not draped in nra fearmongering. martin, it's yours. >> truth from toure. thank you so much, toure, and good afternoon. it's friday, february the 22nd, and it's seven days and counting. ♪ freak out >> for the first time in my life i am ashamed of my country. >> the scare-quester. >> it's embarrassing when the president is a demagogue. >> it's going to take a disaster to turn people's attention away from their narcissism. >> the president knows that the polls show that the american public for some reason sides with him on this. >> 51% of the voters elected

barack obama. 49% of us are not that stupid. >> i think the republicans have betrayed their own values. >> the republicans have great messages, but there is a news media in this country that simply is on the president's side. >> the people who we need to reach are the people who aren't paying attention. >> that's what the economy said, herman. >> those that are wrong economists. >> please be reasonable. >> it makes me ashamed. >> vent your anger but be alone when you do it. ♪ have you heard about the new dance criaze ♪ li . >> it is seven days to austerity, to a potential economic apock lips when $85 billion will be slashed from the federal government and eventually it will affect all of us from the food we eat to the flights we take to the nation's

national security. all of it could come apart unless republicans find a way to compromise on sequestration. it's a message the president reiterated this afternoon while meeting with japan's prime minister. >> this should be a no-brainer, and let me just point out that the overall impact to the economy will be to slow down the recovery. >> the comments came after transportation secretary ray lahood visited the white house briefing room this morning and explained in no uncertain terms how these cuts will affect the average american. he detailed not only the delays that travelers within the united states can expect, but also how republicans can avoid these devastating cuts. >> this requires compromise. this requires republicans stepping forward with some ideas about how to keep essential

services of government running at the level that people have been accustomed to. this is not rocket science. >> and this comes on the top of recent polling showing not only the president with far more support among voters than republicans, but also that republicans will take the lion's share of the blame should these cuts come to pass. we go to kristin welker live at the white house. that was a pretty big gun in the white house briefing room. is this the administration trying to counter some republicans who seem to be suggesting that the sequestration is no big deal, we should just somehow welcome it? >> well, martin, good afternoon. i think that that is one goal. i also think the administration is trying to ratchet up pressure on congress to act by ratcheting up the public anger over this situation. as you pointed out, secretary lahood really painted quite a stark picture in the briefing room today. he talked about the fact that $1

billion would be slashed from the department of transportation and that would lead to 47,000 employees who would be furloughed. the ultimate impact he said is that air-traffic controllers would essentially have fewer shifts. that would mean the entire air traffic system would grind to basically not a halt but would slow down significantly, flights could be changed or delayed or even canceled. so really a stark picture. obviously that's something that the public has a great deal of interest in. the administration has been taking this tack all week talking about the very severe impact on the average person if these cuts do, in fact, go into effect. women and infant children would be impacted, meals on wheels, head start. a number of programs across the board with be impacted according to the administration. the president has been accused of sort of painting a sky is falling scenario. we asked white house press secretary jay carney about that. he denied those claims, but still no deal in sight and we are just seven days out. martin?

>> kristin welker at the white house. thank you. for analysis we're pleased to welcome robert gibbs, the president's former press secretary, senior adviser, and now an msnbc contributor. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon. >> we've had the pointless spectacle of a blame game with republicans claiming that despite voting for the sequester, they actually have nothing to do with it and it's all the president's fault. now we hear them saying bring it on. is it not a suspicion that republicans like paul ryan would absolutely love to see a brutal series of cuts? they want this sequester, don't they? >> well it certainly appears that way. now, that's not how they framed it last fall during the presidential campaign, and i do think from that video montage that you showed, look, i think there's breaking news that rush limbaugh has developed a sense of shame. i think it's remarkable in all of this to listen to the rhetoric on the other side. again, these were apocalyptic cuts from their viewpoint just a

few months ago. now it's something that they seem unwilling to do anything to stop. >> we've had james clapper, director of national intelligence, warning that these cuts could provoke a national security crisis. we've had ray lahood tell us our travel plans will be in disarray. we've had arne duncan warn us the teachers will be laid off, the education of our children badly undermined. but, robert, isn't this the republican rampage against government, not through the ballot box because, of course, they lost the presidential election, but through the excuse of the sequester? >> look, i think in some ways it is. there are certainly programs that you enumerated there that they would be happy to watch any federal funding squeezed off of. i do think if you again look at their rhetoric from last fall around what's going to happen to military readiness and national security, they were holding their hands up and waving them furiously just a few months ago that we couldn't possibly let

this happen to now going to a mere shoulder shrug of bring it on. i think they go into this, martin, with a huge disadvantage, as you showed with the polling. i think they've got very bad cards, and they seem intent on sitting at the card table and playing each and every one of them. >> it is incredible. now, paul ryan is one of the republicans who likes to call this the president's sequester, as you know. however, i'd like you to listen to his thoughts on sequestration from a few years ago. take a listen. >> we want to make sure we put a system in place with binding caps that are tough to circumvent that are backed up with sequesters so congress actually makes the tough choices. >> this from the same man who says it's the president's sequester. can you explain that, mr. gribs? >> i can't explain it and i doubt paul ryan can either. i think again their rhetoric never seems to match the reality

in this. they've got a bad hand to play, yet they seem intent on playing it, and i will say i think this sets back even further the image that they have to turn around and that is that they are not a party that is serious about doing what is possible or what needs to happen to both compromise and to govern this country. i think it's why they continue to lose important national elections time after time. >> now, you speak about messaging and you know how important the media can be in disseminating a message. here are some republican mouthpieces on exactly what's happening. take a listen to this. >> ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life i am ashamed of my country. >> it is outright deception and i don't have a problem with what he said. >> liberals never understand rush. it frustrates me. >> it's us. we're turning into bare barians, we americans. it's not that americans are bad

people. they're just apathetic -- >> may i go the other -- >> they don't care. >> they blamed the president. now they blame the people deriding americans as apathetic, narcissistic, and disinterested. can i ask you, isn't there some fundamental misunderstanding here that the will of the american people was evidenced in the way they voted in november? that's what the american people think. >> right. we've had an election where we had a bigger turnout than we'd had four years ago that came out to say we wanted to stop the insanity of some of these policies. and as you mentioned earlier, republicans spent the last two weeks trying to mount a campaign to have the blame for sequester be put off on the president rather than on themselves. it didn't work in the polling. the public isn't buying it. it's not that the public is apathetic, martin. it's just that they're a whole lot smarter than the people you

showed there in the video montage. >> okay. well, we have seven days, robert, seven days before some of these horrendous cuts will begin to take effect. you've been in washington for a long time. you know the president very well. what are your odds on their being some kind of resolution given that we literally only have seven days left? >> yeah, martin, i wouldn't put a lot of money on the fact that these cuts are going to be averted. i'm pessimistic largely because i don't have a real sense of why i should be optimistic. i think you touched on this. republicans are simply unwilling and, look, ray lahood, who has been a great secretary of transportation, said this as well. it's not rocket science. we just need republicans to come sit down and understand that we've got to get a balanced approach, that everybody is going to have to give a little bit to solve these problems and republicans are at this point categorically unwilling to do anything like that. i think, again, they've got

really bad cards in this yet they seem insistent on playing this hand out, and i don't think it's going to end well for them, and i think several weeks into this when the lines get long for -- to catch a flight, when air-traffic control towers are shut down -- >> when parents fail to receive funding for head start. when families don't get meals on wheels. when disabled people have no transportation. i mean, is that what needs to happen for republicans to reach a compromise? to absolutely see abject suffering in the lives of people? >> i think it is going to take the sequester kicking in and watching the real impact of these cuts across a broad spectrum of people's lives to get republicans to sit down at the table. they understand what could happen, and that's not certainly motivating them towards compromise. >> and there was me stupidly thinking they won election to serve the people of this country. robert gibbs, sir, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> next, john mccain outraged

over benghazi, but when it comes to assault weapons, not so much. stay with us. >> i'm asking you, do you care -- i'm asking you, do you care whether four americans died. >> ha that assault weapons man will not pass the congress of the united states. that assault l not pass the congress of the united states. hi. hi. i'm here to pick up some cacti. it should be under stephens. the verizon share everything plan for small business. get a shareable pool of data... got enough joshua trees? ... on up to 25 devices. so you can spend less time... yea, the golden barrels... managing wireless costs and technology and more time driving your business potential. looks like we're going to need to order more agaves... ah! oh! ow! ... and more bandages. that's powerful. shareable data plus unlimited talk and text. now save $50 on a droid razr maxx hd by motorola. but i'm still stubbed up.

[ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth! when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost.. thanks. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. he opened up jake's very private world. at first, jake's family thought they saved ziggy, but his connection with jake has been a lifesaver. for a love this strong, his family only feeds him iams. compared to other leading brands,

it has 50% more animal protein... ...to help keep ziggy's body as strong as a love that reaches further than anyone's words. iams. keep love strong. with simple, real ingredients, like roasted peanuts, creamy peanut butter, and a rich dark-chocolate flavor, plus 10 grams of protein, so it's energy straight from nature to you. nature valley protein bars.

much as the nra is hoping that that hor riff irific shoot sandy hook elementary school will fade into distant memory today marks the launch of a new action to the help promote the

president's legislative agenda. there are over 100 activities from a village gym fgil for guno rallies in 80 congressional districts. they're also launching their first online ad buy which will target 16 republicans and urge them to support stronger background checks on gun sales. it is a most welcome development, especially when you consider all the nay saying this week about passing real gun reform in congress. perhaps the most prominent naysayer was senator john mccain who had this reaction with a mother of a mass shooting victim. >> my 24-year-old son, alec, was murdered in a movie theater in auror aurora, colorado. these assault weapons allow a shooter to fire many rounds.

they do not belong on our streets. >> you need some straight talk. that assault weapons ban will not pass the congress of the united states. >> let's bring in democratic strategist julian epstein and patric patricia, whose quick thinking and heroism helped stop jared loughner from reloading. patricia, you were in the room at that town hall this week with senator mccain and we want to be fair to him because the video of that event came into us from a station in phoenix that edited out part of his response. but you were actually there. how would you characterize senator mccain's response to a mother who had lost her son in a mass shooting? >> well, i was somewhat taken aback. i know that karen was just shocked that he said that to her, and i'm not sure if he had

it to say again whether he would say it in quite that way, but karen asked me when he was done speaking, should i walk out? and i said, you know, if you really want to display your displeasure, stand up and turn your back to him because people don't know why you're walking out, but she was really upset that he had talked to her that way. >> and you say that you yourself were taken aback. why were you taken aback? >> because alex was murdered i think it was seven months to the day, or almost to the day, and it was just surprising that he would be that aggressive in his language about gun control. he could have been somewhat kinder and gentler to somebody whose child had just been murdered with a gun within the last year. >> indeed. julian, the vice president in referring to patricia's heroism just yesterday made the point

that the size of a gun's magazine often relates to the extent of the carnage. now, given that we all agree that we can't legislate for every single possibility, doesn't reducing the capacity of these magazines make sense if we're serious about curbing gun violence. >> around there's no case that stands for that proposition better than the tucson murder. i echo the vice president's comments. patricia is an american hero. her heroic acts helped stop loughner in his tracks. secondly, i think john mccain is confusing straight talk with circular logic. the reason that the assault weapons ban won't bapass in the senate is because he's trying to obstruct it. it also dishonors the memory of his slain constituents because jared loughner passed a background check.

he was able to unload 33 bullets in a matter of 15 seconds in a semiautomatic pistol with a high capacity magazine. the 13th bullet went into the body and killed a 9-year-old girl. it's exactly the reason why a background check alone will not solve this problem, and it's unbelievable to me that john mccain, who has been such a statesman and somebody who was so well-regarded on both sides of the aisle, has now become an industry front man on an issue that has gotten so out of control that it is causing carnage among his own constituents and this is the kind of answer that we get from him. >> it's extraordinary. patricia, you don't need me to remind you that six people were killed in that tucson parking lot back in january 2011, including, as julian just said, 9-year-old christina taylor green, who will never have the chance to tell us what she thinks about issue. can i ask, do you feel a special responsibility given how close you came to an individual who

was literally perpetrating murderous mayhem? do you feel a particular responsibility to speak up for those children, those individuals who because they've been murdered don't have a choice in this discussion? >> i definitely do. there's some of our group that are so emotionally wounded that they cannot take up the cause, but i can, so i must. i must speak for christina taylor green, for gabe zimmerman, for judge john roll, for darwin stoddard, for dorothy morris and for phyllis schneck. you know, they don't have a voice anymore, and i can speak for them and try to make sure that these things become less and less popular. i don't know if that's the right word. it's just such a shame that we can't try to do something, but you're right, christina taylor green died at the 13th bullet,

and roger and bill badger, they knocked him down when he tried to reload from one .33 capacity magazine to another .33 capacity magazine that misfired when he was going to try to shoot me, and that's when they knocked him down right on top of me and i was able to get the third magazine that he had. you know, if they had only ten rounds in that magazine, maybe we wouldn't have as many people that were murdered or injured. >> exactly right. >> patricia, can i ask, when you hear politicians almost sound as if they have given up hope or that the only thing we might be able to get is universal background checks, what would you say to them? what would you say to those politicians in washington who are literally in the middle of this debate and this argument. what do you say to them? >> i would say when you hear the name christina taylor green,

substitute it for your daughter or your grandchild, and wonder sometime whether that one in a million that's become more than one in a million, if that one in a million incident would happen to her or your grandmother as phyllis schneck or the judge that lives down the street from you, replace the names from the tucson victims or the aurora victims or the little children at sandy hook or the oak creek, replace that name with one of your loved ones and think about the consequences of these dreadful actions, and, you know, the other thing is the assault weapons are not the major cause of death and mayhem in the united states. handguns are. but we need to consider all of them, and we need to make sure that they're kept out of the hands of dangerous people. so my request to the -- our legislature is do the right

thing, think conscientiously about how this affects your constituents and the people around this country. we deserve to be able to be able to go to the grocery store, to the theater, to the spa, to our workplace and have some modicum of safety. >> patricia, thank you so much. thank you for your heroism. julian epstein, thank you, too. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for your time. >> stay with us. much more ahead. brother. he doesn't look like a heart attack patient. i was teaching a martial arts class and it hit me. we get to the emergency room... and then...and then they just wheeled him away. i had to come to that realization that "wow, i am having a heart attack." i can't punch this away. i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to you doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm a fighter and nowadays i don't have that fear. [ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook.

a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic.

you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. do not take celebrex if you've had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history. and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. [ male announcer ] whether it's mom's smartphone...

dad's tablet... lauren's smartphone... or kevin's smartphone... at&t mobile share makes it affordable for the whole family to share data on all their devices. and when you connect a tablet, you save $100. ♪ at&t. rethink possible. stay with us. the day's "top lines" are coming up. >> he just wasn't telling the truth. did he that during the debate, remember, with -- >> what is your name? it's going to come to me. hold on. i'll remember his name. it's going to come to me. chip ranchero. mine was earned in djibouti, africa, 2004.

the battle of bataan, 1942. [ all ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto-insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

from the sequester reality and republican disillusionment to strangers among us. here are today's "top lines," the week in review. >> the scare-que ster. >> emergency responders, border patrol, fbi, federal prosecutors, air-traffic controllers, airport security. it's not an abstraction. people will lose their jobs. >> you know you have a good marriage when you say have a guy's weekend with tiger woods. >> we're in the white house kitchen. >> the president talking about saving big bird. >> did he replace his divot? >> he's given 591 interviews. >> if we live long enough we're going to fail at something. >> even ever hear of a pocket tweet. >> it's your butt. >> it will be in some ways a yawn. is anybody not going to stand up and call his bluff. >> you sound like you're running. >> i'm not foreclosing any

opportunity. >> they are a super bowl team that we ought to respect deeply. >> welcome to the team. nine, nine, nine. >> how dumb are we? >> we are that dumb. >> who are you done with? >> establishment republicans. >> okay. >> the republicans don't have any power. >> we'll become less and less relevant. >> avoid having stupid candidates. jooinl not a witch. >> fewer christine o'donnells and more rand pauls. >> a circular firing squad. >> if you can't urinate on your attacker or vomit on him. >> fire two ploblasts. >> for the first time in my life i am ashamed of my country. >> rush has always been proud of his country. >> not today. >> how about marco rubio? >> you're wearing your lucky burlap unitard. >> i haven't made up my mind on marco rubio yet. >> i call people jerks all the time. >> i see people with faces not like mine. >> you said build a dang fence. where is the fence?

>> the white house's immigration plan was leaked. marco rubio is already calling it dead on arrival which incidentally is also florida's state motto. >> let's get right to our panel now. krystal ball is my colleague and the co-host of "the cycle" and lili gil valletta is founder of excel alliance. congratulations on your baby which you have just had. thank you for coming back and joining us. we were told that immigration was something that republicans and democrats could agree on after the election because of what happened at the election. enter the chair of the house judiciary committee who will have a good say on this and bob goodlatte says there's no need for a path to citizenship. >> now there is no need. we were just talking about it before the show. there is no clear path to citizenship, and the problem we have is that there are so many different versions of immigrants that we try to corner them all with one big label as if they're all one big issue that it's the same to be addressed in one way when it's not.

the biggest issue here is we keep mixing and missing the point that there's an economic impact when we address immigration. you cannot ignore it because it is impacting the competitiveness of our country altogether. >> krystal, a recent bloomberg poll shows a clear majority want a path to citizenship. less than a quarter of the country say they don't want a path to citizenship. isn't this somewhat similar to what's happened with republicans and the overall management of the economy? as soon as the polling suts a balanced approach, they ignore the polling and ignore what americans want and pursue a path that satisfies their base. same with immigration. the people want something like this, so guess what? we'll pander to our base. >> 100%. and not only are they ignoring what the people want, they are ignoring the facts and realities of the current day. the gop has a simple choice. they can either choose to engage with facts, with evidence and try to come up with solutions or

they can engage in this sort of dell gs that representative goodlatte is engaging in. no one who is living in this country thinks that that is real. so if you are -- >> there are 11 million people who are undocumented in this nation. >> that's exactly right. so what are you going to do about that? if you're not for a path to citizenship, what is your alternative? let's spell it out. are you going to deport everyone? what's that going to cost. >> mr. goodlatte says put your fingers in your ears and hope for the best. >> this is what is contradicting because we hear that we want to bring new tax revenues, right? and that we want to balance the economy, and it's like we're having two conversations that are separate when they're really interrelated. if we address this legal path to citizenship which rubio has called it, we will have new taxpayers and do it the right way. there is dreamers that are estimated to generate $329 billion in revenue for the

country if we address those 2 million students, but you can't just separate it and think that one doesn't interrelate with the other. >> we or rather john mccain met the 23% on tuesday. you heard a little in "top lines." let's listen to a bit more. >> why didn't the army go down there and stop them? because the only thing that stops them i'm afraid to say and it's too damn bad, but is a gun. why bring a 30 million -- >> they're here. >> cut off their welfare and all their stuff and they'll go back. >> krystal, senator mccain has nothing to do with those kind of comments, but don't you think the echo chamber of certain media, isn't that generating this kind of ferment which stops us from ever getting to a point of resolution? >> absolutely. and republicans have used this

issue to stoke fear and drive turnout in election after election. even in districts where there are very few immigrants really -- >> right. >> majority white district, there's very little immigration, but they still use it as this wedge issue to stoke fear and drive people to the polls, and it has worked is the problem. now when they're trying to turn around, now when they're trying to say, no, we're open to all people, we want to embrace our latino brothers and sisters, they have created this monster that they cannot just undo with a few words from marco rubio. >> krystal is right, isn't she, that this kind of rhetoric in the med. >> has not been helpful. >> yes, the rhetoric of a few is impacting the good intentions of so you powerful forces in the gop who may want to change but there's too much emotional baggage. there is too many extremists, nationalistic pride, that it's almost like it's making us forget we are an immigrant nation and we are very far from

the five-hour and 29-question process that ellis island used to be, and here we are now so proud talking about our grandparents, they came legally, yet today we're not embracing a legal way for new grandparents to come through. it's just -- it makes no sense. and something needs to happen with that. core, base, make some change, put proposals that move forward this joint and bipartisan agenda and forget the nonsense. >> lili gil valletta, krystal ball, thank you for joining us. next, why republicans may prove to be the bigger friends of hamas than they think. stay with us. i've always looked up to my brother. he doesn't look like a heart attack patient. i was teaching a martial arts class and it hit me. we get to the emergency room... and then...and then they just wheeled him away. i had to come to that realization that "wow, i am having a heart attack." i can't punch this away. i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen.

[ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to you doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm a fighter and nowadays i don't have that fear. [ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. ya. alright, another one just like that. right in the old bucket. good toss! see that's much better! that was good. you had your shoulder pointed, you kept your eyes on your target. to come through. prove to be the bigger friends just like that one... [ male announcer ] the durability of the volkswagen passat. pass down something he will be grateful for. good arm. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ back to you. to come through. prove to be the bigger friends [ kitt ] you know what's impressive?

a talking car.

but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪ tens of thousands of dollars in hidden fees on their 401(k)s?! go to e-trade and roll over your old 401(k)s to a new e-trade retirement account. none of them charge annual fees and all of them offer low cost investments. e-trade. less for us. more for you. it was exactly two years ago today that retiring defense secretary leon panetta said good-bye to his colleagues in a farewell ceremony at a joint military base in virginia. but today mr. panetta is not

enjoying his second week of retirement. instead, he's attending a nato meeting on the future of afghanistan because republicans have prevented the appointment of his successor. after ensuring the failure of a cloture vote on the nomination of chuck hagel, a group of 15 republican senators have now sent a letter to the president urging him to withdraw the nomination. in response the white house press secretary referred to a bogus report fabricated by the breitbart media team which suggested chuck hagel may be connected to a nonexistent organization called the friends of hamas. >> just to be clear, he won't be withdrawn. >> absolutely not. if any suggestion to the otherwise -- to the contrary might have been found in the minutes of the meetings of the friends of hamas, yeah. >> ari melber is an msnbc contributor and correspondent for "the nation" magazine and toure is my colleague and co-host of "the cycle." "both of them are known by breitbart as brothers of

hezbollah. it's one thing for a news organization to make up a story and fabricate it, it's quite another for senators to embrace that story and use it against a nominee. i mean, is the nomination process now not about ascertaining information but literally throwing rotten eggs at the nominee? >> absolutely. we have the right that doesn't believe in science, in polls, and in using real facts. it's like once again the eastwooding you see a lot on the gop, on the right, where we have reasonable critique we could allege at hagel, but we won't. we'll throw fake facts at him. why not actually use real facts? why not use real facts to attack the president and critique the president? no, we're going to use fake facts and present him as a kenyan, marxist, socialist, on and on. the right just wants to attack the president at all costs. when they go back to their district, they can say i stood up against the president. i was tough on the president -- >> even if that harms the

nation? >> well -- >> even if it means the embarrassment of nato where the world's super power in military terms doesn't have its future defense secretary -- >> it doesn't harm you in your district because the people in your district want to see you attacking the president, and it's a red district, right? it's intellectual gerrymandering, so everybody is going to vote for me as long as i stay in d.c. all is good, right? the whole republican mantra is ruin government, ruin the popularity of government. that's the whole strategy of obstruction. >> of course, even though they're drawing government salaries. ari, let me read you part of the letter sent to the president where these republicans claim to be worried about hagel's ability to deal with iran. let me quote it. his statements regarding iran were disconcerting. if senator hagel becomes secretary of defense, the military option will have zero credibility. i'm sorry, ari, can you remind me how many purple hearts lindsey graham, ted cruz, and marco rubio have between them? >> i think it's zero. >> zero.

>> i think it's zero. and i think that the problem with that letter goes deeper than just their sort of shallow criticisms of chuck hagel. the military option is decided in our democracy by the korng working with the president to decide if and when to declare war. so that substantive attempt at a critique acts as if the secretary of defense is going to decide it all along. >> the critique is a complete falsehood. >> whether he is hawkish or not, the president will set the goals of the policy, but the declaration of war against iran or an authorization of force would come from the congress. there's something else that toure said that i thought was important and it almost got lost in the flurry of hoorayish -- toure yish hand motions. you said something that really struck a chord with me. you talked about intellectual

gerrymandering and i think that's such a true thing, that you take breitbart, which is not journalism. it's not media. it is not facts. it's like a giant comment section of anger and fantasy, and that's fine. they have the right, in fact, i would defend their right under our constitution to go talk about whatever they want to talk about. but when you see senators, as you pointed out, martin, stand up and take things from that comment section full of lies and just repeat them and treat them as if they were true, that is the jergerrymandering of the mi and it's a real problem because what they end up with is not only being irresponsible on the substance, about you they look really stupid. and their own base will see that. >> the one thing i would say to that comment they had before that they're uncomfortable with what chuck hagel said about iran. i said you spelled iraq wrong because what you're talking about is you're still upset you opposed the surge and you left the republican position on iraq. and you must be punished, when you go outside of the herd of

elephants, you must be punished. discipline is importance. >> toure and ari melber, even though you didn't move your hands as much as i'd like you to, thank you very much. the brothers of hezbollah will return no doubt soon. next, the great disparity gap in america. it just grows and grows and grows, and we have the facts. stay with us. [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+.

bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire. but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on his portfolio. and with some planning and effort, hopefully bob can retire at a more appropriate age. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

the reality based community has 3r0 deuced a most illuminating report today on income inequality and unlick previous research, which merely documented how far behind the 99% had fallen, this research tells us how we got here in the first place. as the author says, the reason income inequality has been increasing has been the rising income going to the top 1%. most of that has come in capital gains and dividends. this information comes with just seven days left until the so-called sequester cuts hit on

march 1st. and you might think the data would have some affect on congressional debate about how to trim the deficit without strangling our economic recovery. and again washington never was much of a reality-based community. let's bring in professor michael eric dyson of georgetown university, author of "debating race." and william cohen, who, of course, is a columnist for bloomberg view and the author of "money and power." so, bill, as greg sergeant in "the washington post" points out, i will read you his fine writing. this finding is directly relevant to the current debate because the president and democrats want to offset the sequester in part by closing loopholes enjoyed by the wealthy, such as the one that keeps tax rates on capital gains and dividends low. now, closing loopholes is a fair way to do this. but if it would also help stop the decline of the middle class, why wouldn't people support it? >> well, first of all, martin,

the congress would have to be not on vacation and working away -- >> that is an important point. >> let's remind viewers that. they are not working. they are on holiday. >> again. >> the second thing, this is a very nuanced argument, in my opinion. because first of all the capital gains tax rate has gone from 15% to 20% at the first of year, so it's already gone up and then the taxes on the wealthy have gone up to 39.6% as of the first of the year. so there has been an increase in taxes. now, this is a very subtle argument but i think we need to make sure people understand it. >> right. >> the reason that wealth has gone disproportionately to the 1% is because to a large degree they are the ones who are creating new companies for good or for worse, they are creating new companies, getting huge capital gains, and selling their stock into the stock market and they are getting capital gains as a result of that. you have to be very careful not to choke off that level of innovation by raising taxes too high on people who do, in fact,

are willing to take risks with their capital. >> but, bill, mitt romney paid an effective tax rate of 9% on $22 million of income. >> which is absolutely obscene, absolutely obscene. however, he is not a job creator despite what we said. we've been talking about him not being a job creator for years now. but there are other people who take real risks with their capital and we don't want to snuff out that level of risk taking. >> professor, i want your thoughts on capital gains, but i also want you to say something about the minimum wage because it's sort of fallen off the radar this week after being announced by the president at the state of the union address. his proposal is to raise the minimum wage to $9 per hour. would that also help bind the wage gap in this country? is that not true? >> well, martin, every little bit helps, even though progressive economists have said it won't help as much as we might think. it does help more than not having that minimum wage.

the people on the other side of the isle say if you raise the minimum wage, who is going to pay for it? the small business owners. they will get crunched and you're going to have a negative impact on the economy by giving a little bit to some but taking a lot from these small business owners. i don't buy that. when we talk about income inequal ilt, wages, interest, and taxes have decreased the inequality. business income and retirement income have exacerbated it, and capital gains and dividends have done it even more. so the reality is that, yes, i think brother cohen is absolutely right. we don't want to choke those off who contribute to this economy but we don't want their gains to choke the rest of us. the thing is we want to close the loopholes. what the president wants to do is to close loopholes to raise the revenue that could be gained by cutting some of these social programs that the conservatives want to do. they want their cake and they want to gorge themselves with it as well. the rest of us are saying let us enjoy some of that cake, blow out the candles on our birthdays, and have a reasonable distribution of income for the

99%. >> bill, to professor -- >> tyson. >> dyson's point, it's also the case that it's not just income disparity and wealth disparity but also we're choking off social mobility in this country. this is becoming like britain and other parts of europe where there's somehow a kind of nobility which owns all the assets and no one else can get anywhere near that. >> you're absolutely right. one of the beautiful things about this country is american dream. if you have an idea and you execute it beautifully, you can, you know, rise to whatever level in the society you can do from your own -- >> in any sector of life. >> in any sector of life and the last thing we want to do is put ceilings on people's ability to achieve what their dreams are, and i think we've in effect done that some of the things we were talking about by nobilitizing wall street and the people that work there. >> republicans are always using some trumped up controversy to

thwart the president's agenda and, you know, the issue of capital gains we just discussed. they'll say this is some kind of boll she -- boll sha vic plot but there isn't much evidence to suggest higher capital gains diminishes economic growth. >> if they think it's boll she vic they better trotz ski their way over to a better understanding. the inequality in america threatens the national security. literally. because what we haven't talked about so far, martin, besides the excellent point you made is this will gut the military. the sequester goes into effect and the borders of this country will obviously be much more vulnerable. >> professor michael eric dyson, bill cohen, thank you, gentlemen, both. as we talk about sequestration, i should note that just now moody's has downgraded britain's government bond rating over that government's draconian ougaustey

programs. food for thought for mr. ryan. we'll be right back. we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. accomplishing even little things can become major victories. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. when i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis,

lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. you should not start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have symptoms such as persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. since enbrel helped relieve my joint pain, it's the little things that mean the most. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine a hybrid? most are just n. now, here's one that will make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that c-max also bests in mpg.

say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. for tapping into a wealth of experience. for access to one of the top wealth management firms in the country. for a team of financial professionals who provide customized solutions. for all of your wealth management and retirement goals,